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Do you remember when you could just stick a pin in a map, chuck some belongings in a case and head to anywhere your heart desired. Once you have children your choice of holiday destination will depend on various factors such as how far you can travel without having a meltdown (you or the kids!), how warm it will be, entertainment options, food choices etc. The list goes on. You are in no way stopped going anywhere you wish to but you do have to think about it a little more and I guess you need to think that it may not quite be the same as it may have been pre-children.

The below points may help lead you to decide on what type of holiday may be best for you; self-catering, all inclusive, villa etc. For me it would completely depend on where you were going and the amenities available. They all have their pros and cons; will you want to do any cooking? Will you need the extra space that usually comes with self-catering?

The Weather

Before you make your destination choose look up the weather for that time of year. Will it be too hot for young children? Too cold? You want to be able to enjoy your holiday without panicking 24/7 if your baby is going to overheat. If you have your heart on a country then look up the best time of year to go that will suit your family’s needs.

The Travel

Children are actually pretty resilient when it comes to flying, they don’t tend to have the annoyance and fear that some of us grown-ups can be instilled with. More often than not they will cope with the journey and surprise you with their patience. However you have to think if you struggle on say a 4 hour flight then think about how a child may feel being contained in a small space with a short attention span. If you feel you can entertain them then be brave and go for it.

We have flown a few times with our young children from as young as 3 months old and never had any issues, we just go armed with lots of snacks and new things to look at – books, toys etc.

Food Choices

Sadly all the exciting stuff that drew us to a country like exotic foods, challenging the local lingo etc. has to be considered. Will you be able to offer your toddler foods that they will be happy with? Babies are obviously fairly easy if they are either being breastfed or bottle fed as long as there is equipment such as kettles available. You can get some simple sterilising bags now of any gear you need to take, so easy and cheap.

Personally we have stuck to Europe with our little ones just because we know what to expect when it comes to all of the above. We always travel either early or late summer mainly due to cost but also the temperatures are low enough to make the most out of the days and not worry about the children too much when it comes to sun protection.

There will be a time in the future when we can become more adventurous and spontaneous with our destinations but we have just accepted that for now we need to plan a little more!

Venice is pretty spectacular. That's not the kind of word I tend to use very often but it just seems to fit in this instance.

Venice with kids is perhaps not the same kind of romantic trip as it might be as a couple, but it can still be enjoyed with little ones and it's still just as amazing. If we are honest it is fairly unlikely Daisy will ever remember her trip to Venice, she was just under 2 years old after all. But she had a great time while we were there and we captured some memories for her to look back on.

We found ourselves just walking about taking it all in but did end up on the main square a few times. We aren't made of money and so the idea of a coffee in Piazza San Marco wasn't too appealing, as much as I would have loved to have sat and watched everyone scurrying past while having an Aperol. It just wouldn't have been worth it with a toddler to have to chase about. But we did spend quite a lot of time say in the square and wandering about. Daisy had a little boogy to the orchestra outside one of the cafes, chased the pigeons around the square and sat on the step to enjoy a gelato in the square. She may not remember those moments but as parents we will.

We didn't visit the museums and do much of the "adult" type visits because Daisy just wouldn't have been interested. But if I'm honest I was happy to just roam about and explore the city. We hopped on water taxis from one side to the other and just enjoyed the time rambling about stopping for a coffee, gelato or pizza en route! We had Daisy in her carrier most of the time as I really would not recommend a pushchair in Venice. The grounds uneven, it's busy and there are lots of obstacles to tackle and I can't imagine it would be pleasant trying to do that with a buggy! I did a review here all about how we used it on our travels. Venice is a bit of a maze, albeit a very pretty one that makes you feel like you're in a story rather than real life. It’s fairly small, and even if you do get lost, you will soon find signs on the walls pointing to the Rialto Bridge, Piazza San Marco, or Ferrovia (train station) which helps you to guide yourself.
We did just two days in Venice before heading to the lakes and we stayed outside of the main city in a hotel, mainly because hotels within the canals are crazy money and secondly we wanted to be by the train station for our transport links.

One day I would love to return for the weekend and just take it much slower, eat more food, drink more coffee and Aperol (I was pregnant with Alex when we were there last!) and ideally stay in the city to see how different it is when you experience it that way.

We were meeting friends that we haven't seen in a while and Birmingham is our central spot and we always have a good day out when we head there.

I wanted to share with you where we headed and what we got up to so you too can have some inspiration if you manage to visit soon.

First up we headed to Zizzi at the Mailbox for some rustica pizzas and cocktails. The Mailbox isn't far from the train station at New Street so it was a good place to start where we were guaranteed some nice food and where we could have a look around the shops afterwards. This is where Harvey Nichols is so if you fancy shopping a little on the higher end this is where to head. We had a quick look around the cosmetics stands and headed for a pick me up in the form of an espresso martini at the bar before wondering back towards the centre of the city.

Our next stop was Dirty Martini on Bennett's Hill where we all chose various cocktails on the menu. We were lucky to get there for happy hour (which is actually between 12-8pm on a Saturday!) so enjoyed half price Martinis. I couldn't actually believe how busy it was in the cocktail bars around town, considering we were there at around 4pm. It did quieten down towards later afternoon into the evening before it got busier again at around 8pm.

We actually stayed here for a good few hours making the most of happy hour, people watching and catching up.

We then headed to a few other bars before finishing off at Lost and Found. The decor in here is so insta worthy, it is whimsical and floral and just really grand. It was absolutely beautiful! The flowers on the ceiling were gorgeous and made me want to do it in our home!

We had a fantastic day. There is so much choice in the city of all kinds of bars, restaurants and cafes. Not to mention the shopping. One day soon we will be back to have a girls day shopping and to try out a few more of the cocktail bars I think!

Hayley x

Hotels.com have kindly gifted me some spending money but all opinions are my own.

If you follow my YouTube channel then you will have seen I have recently been raving about this product. The Body Shop Camomile cleansing butter is absolutely beautiful. Which I always find an odd phrase to say about a cleanser but that is honestly how it feels when you use it on your face.

The Cleansing Butter is a make-up remover for the whole face. It gently and efficiently melts away make-up and impurities, leaving skin feeling clean and pampered whilst smelling absolutely divine.

It is a thick, oily texture that you scoop a little out of and gently rub all over your face and then wipe off with a warm, soft cloth. It amazes me how it just melts away your eye make up. Sure, you look absolutely horrifying whilst rubbing it on to your eyes and resembling a very frightening Panda but then it just vanishes. Like pure magic!

My skin is left feeling beautifully soft and clean. I quite often then just wipe over my face with a Liz Earle toner (Just what I am currently using) to remove any last bits of cleanser left on my face or tiny bits of make up and to leave me leaving really fresh.

This isn't a brand new to market product as I think it has been out a little while now but it really is worth picking up. It’s marketed for sensitive skin and being a smooth, oily butter means it would be suitable for both oily and dryer skins so it a great all round product! The ingredients include Olive fruit oil, Shea butter, Sunflower oil and Chamomile.

This product retails at around the £10 mark and is worth every penny. If you try one product from The Body Shop this year make it this!

I recently did a post all about Aldi's Lacura dupe for this iconic product; Liz Earles Cleanse and Polish. I had tried it some time ago when I got my hands on a sample product but had never purchased it myself. Even if you haven't bought into the dupe I am pretty sure you'll have heard all about Aldi dupes. Aldi's version being Hot Cloth cleanser and well it is a quarter of the price at least.

I mentioned how I had mixed feeling about the blatant dupe. On one hand trying to replicate a product doesn't sit nicely with me ethically, nt when it is packaged to replicate that product as close as they can anyway. But on the other hand it is affordable for those who wouldn't splurge on a Liz Earle version.

Well, one of my lovely friends clearly reads my blog and gifted me a beautiful Liz Earle set for my birthday. I have been using it now for well over a month and thought I would report back what my initial thoughts are.

First up there is clearly a difference in the makeup of the product. Liz Earles version most certainly feels more gentle to use and the scent is far less fragranced that Aldi's. Which makes me feel as of the quality of the product is higher, as in the concentration of the good stuff is higher in the LE product.

I feel that if I was blindfolded I would be able to tell which was which but it perhaps isn't as obvious as you may think it would be.

Both are gentle enough for me and leaves me feeling cleansed and well, polished. So for everyday cleansing would I shift over to LE from the Aldi version. Yes and no. I would repurchase the LE as my skin has been immaculately clear since using it but then the Aldi version is an alternative for in between purchases or holidays etc.

I love the consistency and the smell is very spa like for both products, which is a scent I like. It is filled with rosemary, chamomile, cocoa butter, white tea and eucalyptus oil which are all scents I enjoy. It isn't floral or over powering, it just smells clean and fresh.

Overall, I love the LE product and will repurchase. It definitely feels like a treat to use.

Eczema is a pain. A real pain, quite literally in some instances. As a mother of 2 this is the second time I have come across it, strangely this second time around it is my eldest and she has suddenly been hit by it at the age of 4, so odd but I don't think it cares who it hits! Thankfully I have been here and done this with my littlest who had it from very early on. I should say his was very mild and easily controlled.

I also have struggled in the past and it has kind of been a bit trial and error to see what works for me. I have only ever had it on my hands in the winter thankfully, but from steroid creams to emollient moisturisers, those with eczema will know how difficult it is to find a cream that works for them.

Daisy's doesn't appear to be causing her too much trouble but it isn't all that pretty to look at and looks as if it could get a lot worse very quickly if not controlled. With Alex we had prescription creams and they seemed to do the trick but I also wiped out all perfumed bath products etc at the same time too and stuck to the prescriptions and some natural oat bath additives.

I have used Childs Farm before for the bath, the tangerine smell is absolutely divine and it still creates bubbles which is a big win in this household. I thought I would give you a Childs Farm review in case you too are struggling with what products to be using with your little children with skin conditions or maybe you just want to step closer to more natural, gentle products?

I did a review on this back at the start of last year but wanted to do an updated version as a lot may have changed since then. I was recommended Childs Farm by a few people when I had Daisy and I have actually tried it before when Daisy was a baby. I remember liking it but thinking was it really worth the hefty price tag back then. As a bit of perspective Daisy has always had skin with no complaints so sticking to the usual every day named brands wasn't an issue. Where as now the likes of a Johnson's bubble bath just won't work for either of my children, leaving them scaly and itchy.

So now I am not censoring all of the products that Alex has to use but this has moved on to Daisy now. Both of my children LOVE bubbles and you can see the disappointment on their faces when they have to have perhaps a "milky" bath rather than a bubbly one if for example I use an oat based bath milk or god forbid just a natural water bath with no additives. This product really is what we need to use.

We were lent the moisturizer by a friend to try out before going ahead and purchasing it ourselves and it really has done the trick in clearing up most of Daisy's rash. It does still appear if she swims for example of is in contact with something harsher like perhaps a bath bomb but this really does clear it up fairly quickly. This is really pleasing as the less I have to use prescribed medicines/ creams for Daisy the better. It is fairly expensive in comparison to some other alternative products out there but in mind it is 100% worth it.

I would love to give some of the other products a go but for now I am on my no spend January - perhaps later in the year you will hear more.

Liverpool is one of my favourite cities to visit, especially with the girls. Firstly it isn't very far away from us, just over an hour and there is always something to do there.

I thought I would share with you my top things to do whilst there!

(1) Shopping. I don't really need to say much more about this I am sure but there are plenty of shopping spots to head to but make sure you start with Liverpool ONE. Not only are there loads of shops to get stuck into but lots of coffee shops, bars and restaurants to keep you going. The good thing about here is that it is so central, you don't have to go far and you are close to the docks. It is a good base to start from or meet up later in if you are in a big group for a proper day out. There is also plenty of accommodation based all around it if you were looking for somewhere to stay.

(2) Ghetto Golf - it is what it says on the tin. A great activity to take part in with your friends, family or work colleagues, slightly crazy but hey who doesn't love crazy golf? Worth noting though that this is adults only so don't be trying to take the kids there for an afternoon out!

(3) Break Out Liverpool. You will find them in most cities now as they seem to be pretty popular at the moment, basically you have 60 minutes to escape from a locked room. Some peoples worst nightmare but it is pretty good fun with a group of friends.

(4) There are bars everywhere here and the evening atmosphere is always a good laugh where pretty much anything goes in terms of dress etc. A must visit is Alma De Cuba which is an old 18th-century church lit by candles and pretty lights, it really is beautiful and at night has a great atmosphere. It gets busy so if you want to eat there then I would suggest booking a table. But always stay until around 10pm when the latin dancers come out and the entertainment starts!

(5) Eat! There are loads of restaurants here in Liverpool and all variations. If you want fast food there is loads of choice or something fancier then you could try somewhere like Spire or the Art School Restaurant. There is almost too much choice.

(6) The docks are lovely to walk around. There are some beautiful little shops and restaurants as well as some of the bigger chains. You could almost spend the whole day there if you chose to and wanted to visit the museums such as the Beatles museum, The Cavern club etc.

(6) And how we try to end our day if we can is to go and see a show. The Echo often has shows on and always something for everyone. Again it is pretty central so you will have no trouble finding it.

Daisy has now started school and since then it has been playing on my mind a little about sharing so much of her life online. If you watch my YouTube channel you will have noticed that at the back end of last years family style videos all but stopped and they were focused more around parenting as a whole, tips, tricks, naming videos etc and not so many vlogs. I will be honest and put it out there that I just didn't feel so comfortable sharing so much of her when it is possible that anyone could stumble across them and it could be mentioned at school and actually she may be none the wiser about the content that is out there.

It was also becoming more difficult to hide things such as school details as uniform is thrown about all over the place, correspondence from school and of course she is now at an age where she talks, and doesn't stop. I didn't want to miss editing something out of a video for it to catch up with us and to be in a situation where I embarrass her or worse still, put her at any risk.

You will still see her appear in videos when we are travelling because I want her to talk about those things, share her experiences and what she been up to and learnt but day to day vlogs will be very minimal. You will also still see her appear on my Instagram and Facebook in some way but perhaps not as much as she previously has been. We shall see.

What are your thoughts about bloggers and their children? There surely has to be a line where once crossed it is breaching their privacy? I don't know, I am in a strange place at the moment considering where my content will lead this year and how I will still ensure she is represented (for my memories not anybody elses and so she still feels included!) in some way. So watch this space!

If you have any ideas, creativity or practicality then please do share. I am always open to ideas and always open for a discussion...

So, how has it been a year already since I last did this annual post that I do? Absolutely mental.

Resolutions... I am all for them. Controversial I know, It isn't that I want to change myself, build a new me or anything drastic, I just want to tweak certain aspects. I guess you could say I don't set myself resolutions as such, more mind sets and fresh, positive ways of thinking.

A big part of my 2018 years goals was: Plan to plan. Make plans. Simple. Fill the diary with travel, breaks, coffee dates. And in some aspects I did and in some I really didn't. I went a bit out there and spontaneously booked a girls trip to New York for this spring which was the biggest plan of the year I am sure and a big step to do something for myself. But generally week to week I am really bad at planning. I don't see friends for months on end or try to arrange plans really last minute and then wonder why they never come to fruition.

This year I really want to make more plans with my husband, Ben. Breakfast dates, dinner dates, what ever it may be. Cinema maybe? Just time the two of us to get away even for an hour from the home and the children, just to be us for a short amount of time.

The next thing I need to focus on is personal. And I am a little ashamed to talk about it but I like to be honest. I want to stop with the shouting. The anger and frustration. I want to be able to get up and walk out of a room and go and make myself a cup of tea rather than yelling back at Alex when he flips out because he can't get his drill bit into his toy drill, or when Daisy is chopsing at me for something ridiculous! I am struggling with this at the moment and I am not sure what the turning point was but I find myself yelling and shouting and that isn't the mum I want to be. I do it and then feel sad and guilty about it, my children are my babies and to have them shouted at is my absolute nightmare yet there I am raising my voice? I know we are forced into reactions at times but I want to stamp out this behaviour in the house. It isn't too regular of a thing but still. This is probably my biggest resolution for the year.

The next is a step on from something I have been working on for a while and that is to take care of myself. You can't pour from an empty cup, or apparently so anyway! I take time out, away from social media, away from my iphone and have just 30 minutes in the bath in an evening or read a book. Time to just stop and breathe, think and not be chasing my tail or thinking about what is next. I find myself to become all consumed in ridiculous things. Social media is the absolute worst for this way of being and I find myself getting stuck down rabbit holes without knowing how I got there, in an endless whirl of profiles, statuses, tweets and squares. I love social media and think it has so many plus points but I find I need a step away and doing this helps me relax and just stop for a while. SO I guess that us 2 in 2 really, one part to just look after me, spend time pampering myself, listening to myself and the other to step away from the tie that is social media from time to time. Be more present in life.

There is still a lot of other things I want to work on and a lot of that will carry on from last years want to work on my photography and creative side, help my mum grow her business, be present, get fitter, you know the drill...

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